Everton v Tottenham Hotspur, Premier League: Preview and Probable Teams

Tottenham Hotspur will travel to Goodison Park this weekend, hoping to profit from any more slip-ups by London rivals Chelsea. Spurs' recent form, coupled with the Blues' poor results in recent league fixtures, means the White Hart Lane club could overtake Rafa Benitez' side and leap into third place by Sunday evening. Everton, meanwhile, continue their fight to remain in the top five of the Premier League and challenge for European football next season but need to convert a string of draws into wins.

The last league game at Goodison Park finished favourably for David Moyes' side, with Nikica Jelavic scoring the winning goal.

Where to Watch Live

Kick-off is scheduled for 3pm GMT and live coverage will be available on BBC Radio 5 live. Catch highlights of the match on Match of the Day, on BBC One and BBC One HD, at 10.30pm GMT.

Overview

Everton started the 2012/13 league campaign with a bang, beating Manchester United at home. Talismanic midfielder Marouane Fellaini scored the only goal of the game and the Belgian has since become the Toffees' star player, by some considerable margin. There is now significant interest in the 25-year-old international's services, with Chelsea and both Manchester clubs rumoured to be interested.

However, early season heroics aside, Everton have since fallen into a slump. The good news is they remain almost impossible to beat. In fact, they've lost only twice in the league this season - only Manchester City are better in that respect... and they're unbeaten.

Nevertheless, the fact remains that Moyes has seen three draws in his last three games (curiously all have been 1-1 results) and comes into this game with only one win in five. The club's previous game was last weekend at the Etihad, where Fellaini, again, was the star in a drawn match.

The Scot would love to see an end to that run, but will be aware of the difficulties in facing a Tottenham side in good form. Spurs are on a four-game winning streak and are unbeaten in five. The team have not lost since their 5-2 drubbing at the Emirates, in the north London derby. And what's worse for Everton is that the London club has scored 11 goals in the last four games, conceding only three.

Tottenham beat Greek side Panathinaikos in a midweek UEFA Europa League match, with both senior strikers, Jermain Defoe and Emmanuel Adebayor, starting and on the score sheet. The Togo international, a summer signing from City after impressing on loan last year, seems to have recovered well from injury worries at the start of the campaign and a good partnership between himself and England international Defoe would be great news for Tottenham coach Andre Villas-Boas.

What will also be great news for the former Chelsea manager is that the win over Panathinaikos confirmed qualification to the knock-out rounds of the Europa League and that will give the Portuguese and the squad a big boost ahead of this game.

Team Form

Everton

• Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): D D D L W
• Last Result: Manchester City 1 - 1 Everton

Tottenham Hotspur

• Last Five (all competitions, most recent first): W W W W D
• Last Result: Tottenham Hotspur 3 - 1 Panathinaikos

Team News

Nigerian international Victor Anichebe (hamstring), summer recruit Kevin Mirallas (hamstring) and former United player and Everton skipper Phil Neville are the only long-term absentees for the Toffees. Moyes has no further injury worries going into this game (Seamus Coleman does have a knock but is expected to be ready for action) and is likely to name the same side that held City to a creditable draw last week.

Probable Line-Up: Howard; Hibbert, Jagielka, Distin, Baines; Gibson, Osman; Naismith, Fellaini, Pienaar; Jelavic

AVB rotated his squad well for the midweek game and may have to do something similar for this fixture. Tottenham are still without Younes Kaboul and Benoit Assou-Ekotto (both knee) in defence, meaning England youngster Steven Caulker and Jan Vertonghen will probably start in central defence.

The biggest blow for the club will be the absence of Welsh winger Gareth Bale (hamstring). The 23-year-old has established himself as one of the most exciting attacking players in England, if not Europe, and that form has attracted interest from both Spanish giants, Real Madrid and Barcelona.

England midfielder Scott Parker (Achilles) is recovering well, as is centre back Michael Dawson. However, neither is likely to be fit for this game.

Probable Line-Up: Lloris; Walker, Caulker, Vertonghen, Naughton; Sandro, Huddlestone; Lennon, Dembele, Dempsey; Defoe